President Obama Reacts to Background Check Vote

President Obama Reacts to Background Check Vote

There's shock and anger in Washington after the Senate killed a bill that would've expanded background checks to gun shows and internet sales.

Even with four Republicans crossing party lines to support it, the compromise bill failed.

"All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington," President Obama said afterward.

President Obama and supporters claim the compromise failed because the National Rifle Association lied about how it worked.

"Trying to stretch that if I sold a gun on the internet to my cousin, then I make a family member. If you've got to sell a gun on the internet to your cousin you better check your family relationship," Senator Joe Manchin said.

The bill fell six votes short of passing.

Five Democrats voted against it.

Four Republicans voted for it.

"I just thought that the bill was appropriate, I've always been opposed to the so-called gun show loophole and so I thought it was the right thing to do," said Senator John McCain.

Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords lobbied for the bill and will address its failure Thursday morning.

In a scathing op-ed in the New York Times, she calls lawmakers "cowards...ignoring tearful pleas from Newtown families".

"We are not defeated, and we will not be defeated," Mark Barden, the father of one Newtown victim, said afterward. "We are not going away."

The National Rifle Association, which lobbied heavily against expanding background checks, thanked lawmakers defeating what it calls a "misguided" effort that would've criminalized some private transfers.

"What that bill does is target law abiding citizens rather than violent criminals," argued Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Senator Manchin says he's already talking to lawmakers about how they can tweak the bill to get it passed.